Monday, March 3, 2014

This year seems like it's the year for movie adaptations of books. I saw a list on Buzzfeed in January that inspired me to check out a couple of them. Fortunately, I had already read six of the books on the list. I've added links to those reviews by the book and movie screen capture below. Unfortunately, the two new books from the list I decided to read didn't turn out to be that great.

Love Jonathan Tropper! Don't stop at this book...try Book of Joe next! And this movie cast is going to be hilarious.

What Louis Zamperini survived is absolutely unbelievable. And he's still riding a skateboard in his nineties today. Ridiculous! (review)

The first in the trilogy that is sure to follow in the movie footprints of Twilight and Hunger Games. (review)

Lazy Weekend

I just finished this one last month! Love Reese Whitherspoon, so I'm sure I will end up seeing this in the theaters. (review)

Skip This

I am definitely in the minority, but I wanted to throw this book against the wall most of the time I was reading it. Sadly, I find it hard to start a book and not finish it because many times I've been proven wrong halfway through. This was not that kind of book. (review)

New Book #1: I chose Winter's Tale because the movie preview looked really lovely. The book was nothing of the sort. It was very confusing, had no real direction or clear purpose, and often felt like the author was rambling. And instead of a romance, it was more of a fantasy - a fantasy of a crazy person. I had to put the book down and stop reading because it was actually making me mad. Did I say I read the book? I actually had to skim it a lot. And shall I also mention it's almost 800 pages! I read a few other reviews that agree with my point of view. I think had I continued reading there would have been a total of three separate stories set in different time periods that maintained similar themes, but since I could barely get through the first story, I guess I will never know. From the movie previews, I think that it only focuses on the first story.

New Book #2: I don't know what led me to choose A Long Way Down from the list. And it wasn't necessarily a bad book, it just wasn't a good one - not even good enough for a quick weekend read. It's the story of four strangers that meet on the top of a building in London on New Year's Eve because it's the most famous spot for people looking to commit suicide by jumping. Yep, not exactly an uplifting start to the story - all the characters looking to end their lives. Of course, they don't do it in the end that night, and they agree to delay their decisions to see what comes of their lives over a specified period of time, see if it's not as bad as they think, then meet up again. Overall, an average read not worth recommending in my opinion. Also, with each chapter being narrated by one of the four characters, it made the flow of the story a bit too choppy for my taste.